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Putrajaya To Clamp Down On Vocal Covid-19 Anti-Vax

Goofus — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 12:43:17 +0800

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2021/02/17...9-anti-vaxxers/

Putrajaya To Clamp Down On Vocal Covid-19 Anti-Vaxxers
By Ashswita Ravindran | 17 February 2021
People can choose not to be vaccinated against Covid-19, but they are not allowed to publicly campaign against vaccination, says Dr Adham Baba.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba speaks to CodeBlue in an interview on February 10, 2021, in his office in Putrajaya. Picture by Boo Su-Lyn.
PUTRAJAYA, Feb 17 — The government will take action against those who campaign against Covid-19 vaccination, Dr Adham Baba said.

“You don’t want the vaccine, never mind, but you don’t campaign to people not to take the vaccine,” the health minister told CodeBlue last week during an exclusive interview.

“If you don’t want (the vaccine), it’s okay, but don’t let other people get influenced by you. I will use Act 342 on those who campaign (against vaccination),” he added, referring to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act.

“I will catch them.”

The health minister stressed that the government wanted to achieve herd immunity against transmission of the dangerous coronavirus, saying: “We want to vaccinate people, protect them.”

Covid-19 vaccination is voluntary. People can sign up for vaccination appointments from March 1 through the MySejahtera app.

Pfizer vaccine cuts symptomatic infections 94%

Goofus — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 06:23:49 +0800

https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-clalit-p...s-94-1001360656

Research analyzing data from 1.2 million Israelis has corroborated the high efficacy in Pfizer's clinical trials.

Clalit, Israel's largest health maintenance organization (HMO) analyzed data from 1.2 million members - 600,000 members who received the Pfizer vaccination and 600,000 members with a similar profile who were not vaccinated. The research found that there was a 94% fall in symptomatic infections among those who were vaccinated and a 92% fall in the rate of those who were seriously ill with Covid-19 among the 600,000 who were vaccinated, compared with the 600,000 who did not receive any vaccination. The efficacy was seen in all age groups, including over 70s, who were only represented in a limited group in Pfizer's clinical trial.

Clalit's survey found high efficacy for the vaccination from seven days or more after the second dose of the vaccine. Clalit researchers were able to say with high certainty that the efficacy against severe Covid from a week after the second Pfizer dose was between 91% and 99%.

CDC:Fully vaccinated ppl can skip quarantines

Goofus — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 10:40:55 +0800

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/10/health/c...ance/index.html

(CNN)People who have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus -- right now that means with two doses of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine -- can skip quarantine if they are exposed to someone infected with the virus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

That doesn't mean they should stop taking precautions, the CDC noted in updated guidance. It's just not necessary for them to quarantine.

"Fully vaccinated persons who meet criteria will no longer be required to quarantine following an exposure to someone with COVID-19," the CDC said in updates to its web page with guidance on vaccination.

"Vaccinated persons with an exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 are not required to quarantine if they meet all of the following criteria," the CDC added.

The criteria: They must be fully vaccinated -- having had both shots with at least two weeks having passed since the second shot. That's because it takes two weeks to build full immunity after the second dose of vaccine.

And everyone, vaccinated or not, needs to follow all other precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, the CDC said. This is not least because it's possible even vaccinated people could harbor the virus in their noses and throats, and pass it to others.

"At this time, vaccinated persons should continue to follow current guidance to protect themselves and others, including wearing a mask, staying at least 6 feet away from others, avoiding crowds, avoiding poorly ventilated spaces, covering coughs and sneezes, washing hands often, following CDC travel guidance, and following any applicable workplace or school guidance, including guidance related to personal protective equipment use or SARS-CoV-2 testing," the agency said.

Vaccines prevent symptomatic illness but they have not yet been shown to prevent asymptomatic illness, the CDC noted. While people with no symptoms can spread coronavirus, the CDC said, "symptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission is thought to have a greater role in transmission than purely asymptomatic transmission."

Plus, the benefits of not unnecessarily forcing people into lockdown for two weeks may outweigh the risks of transmission in these cases, the CDC said.

"These criteria could also be applied when considering work restrictions for fully vaccinated healthcare personnel with higher-risk exposures, as a strategy to alleviate staffing shortages. Of note, exposed healthcare personnel would not be required to quarantine outside of work, the CDC said.

More than 97% of recent COVID deaths in Israel

Goofus — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:07:06 +0800

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-c..._source=twitter

“I want to give you a jarring fact: Over the last month - the last 30 days - 1,536 people have died (of COVID-19) in the State of Israel. More than 97% of them had not been vaccinated. Fewer than 3% had been vaccinated.”

Around 38% of Israel’s 9 million population have received at least one vaccine dose, the Health Ministry says. But government goals of achieving 50% coverage and reopening the economy next month have been challenged as the daily vaccination pace ebbs.

The vaccination drive began on Dec. 19 with a focus on Israelis over the age of 60 and other high-risk groups. Israel has since lowered the eligible age to 16, but sees less urgency among younger citizens who are less prone to dangerous coronavirus complications.

Israeli officials also believe some people are swayed by rumours of potential lasting side-effects from the vaccines.

# inb4 why vaccinated still die. Covid = scam. Etc.

Indonesia bimbang kluster COVID-19 dari Malaysia

Goofus — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 07:52:56 +0800

https://www.bharian.com.my/dunia/asean/2021...9-dari-malaysia

JAKARTA: Agensi Perlindungan Pekerja Asing Indonesia (BP2MI) Nunukan, Kalimantan Utara meminta pasukan petugas khas COVID-19 mengetatkan kawalan sempadan dengan Malaysia.

Menurut lapor Kompas.com, langkah itu dibuat susulan banyak kes membabitkan pekerja warga Indonesia melarikan diri dari Malaysia dengan menggunakan jalan tikus di kawasan sempadan.

Ketua BP2MI Nunukan, Hotma Victor Sihombing, berkata kebanyakan pekerja yang melarikan diri akan menggunakan jalan di wilayah Krayon dan Pulau Sebatik yang menghubungkan kedua-dua negara.

"Kita sudah mengendalikan tiga kes berkaitan pekerja Indonesia lari dari Malaysia. Mereka mengambil kesempatan di sempadan Krayan dan Sebatik untuk ke kampung halaman di Nunukan," katanya.

Menurut Victor, kes terakhir dikendalikan pihaknya membabitkan 11 pekerja yang berasal dari Bulukumba, Sulawesi Selatan pada hujung Januari lalu.

"Sehubungan itu, kita meminta pasukan petugas khas Covid-19 mengetatkan pemeriksaan di kawasan sempadan kerana tidak mahu ada kluster import dari Malaysia," ujarnya. - AGENSI

FYI Pulau sebatik is located near Tawau, Sabah

Malaysia Vs Indonesia (don't forget Philippines)

Sinovac Announces Phase III Results of its vaccine

Goofus — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 20:32:32 +0800

http://www.sinovac.com/?optionid=754&auto_id=922

BEIJING--Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SVA) (“Sinovac” or the “Company”), a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced phase III results. Sinovac had started its phase III trials on CoronaVac, its COVID-19 vaccine, on July 21, 2020. Trials were conducted in Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, and Chile. In compliance with the principles of Good Clinical Practice (GCP), the trials were conducted with the vaccine candidate produced from the same lot and following the 0, 14 day schedule. There have been a total of 25,000 participants enrolled in the trial across those four countries.

The phase III trials conducted in Brazil and Turkey evaluated the efficacy of the vaccine candidate in healthcare workers who provide treatment to COVID-19 patients. Both trial studies were randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled. The two trials shared the same primary endpoint of an efficacy rate 14 days after the vaccination with either vaccine candidate or placebo.

As of December 16, 2020, there were 12,396 health workers over 18 years old enrolled. A total of 253 positive cases were collected during the observation period. After 14 days following vaccination with 2 doses of vaccine following a 0, 14 day schedule, the efficacy rate against diseases caused by COVID-19 was 50.65% for all cases, 83.70% for cases requiring medical treatment, and 100.00% for hospitalized, severe, and fatal cases.

There are two stages of the phase III clinical trial in Turkey. Participants comprised health care workers in the first stage (K-1) and the general population in the second stage (K-2), with all participants ranging from 18 to 59 years old. As of December 23, 2020, there were 918 participants enrolled in K-1 and 6,453 participants in K-2, for a total of 7,371 participants. Among them, 1,322 participants completed the two-dose vaccination and entered the 14-day observation period after receiving the second dose of the vaccination. Based on an analysis of 29 cases, the efficacy rate for COVID-19 prevention was 91.25% after 14 days following the two-dose vaccination, in adherence with the 0, 14 day schedule.

Sinovac has officially filed conditional market authorization for CoronaVac with China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). Sinovac continues to actively seek regulatory approval for CoronaVac in other countries while contributing to making the COVID-19 vaccine accessible and affordable on a global basis to ensure the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Malaysia Getting 1.6 Mil COVAX Vaccine Doses By Q2

Goofus — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 14:40:55 +0800

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2021/02/04...ne-doses-by-q2/

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 — The global COVAX initiative expects to deliver 1,624,800 AstraZeneca-Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine doses to Malaysia by the first half of this year.

Coordinators of COVAX — a vaccine access mechanism co-led by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Gavi, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) — announced yesterday COVAX’s first interim distribution forecast.

The 1.6 million AstraZeneca doses for Malaysia will be manufactured by South Korea’s SK Bioscience.

COVAX coordinators said further supply is planned for the second half of the year. Malaysia has ordered a total of 6.4 million doses from COVAX to cover 3.2 million people on a two-dose regimen.

Malaysia, as an upper middle income country, paid for coronavirus vaccines from COVAX as a self-financing participant, compared to other low and middle income economies on COVAX’s Advance Market Commitment (AMC) list who will be receiving donor-funded doses.

AstraZeneca said in a statement yesterday that its vaccine was 82 per cent effective at preventing Covid-19 with a 12-week gap between two shots, according to a new study published as a preprint in The Lancet based on Phase Three clinical trials in the UK, Brazil, and South Africa.

Data has shown that the vaccine showed a 76 per cent efficacy after a first dose. AstraZeneca also said its vaccine provided 100 per cent protection against severe disease, hospitalisation, and death from Covid-19.

More importantly, a single dose of AstraZeneca’s vaccine was shown to cut positive test results by 67 per cent, and by 50 per cent after a two-dose regimen, which AstraZeneca described as a “substantial impact on transmission of the virus”. The vaccine developer did not explain why a booster dose reduced positive tests by a lesser amount.

Covid-19 vaccines generally prevent illness. It is unclear if vaccines can prevent people from transmitting coronavirus even though they do not fall sick. AstraZeneca now says that its vaccine has the potential to reduce asymptomatic transmission of the virus.

One Pizer jab gives '90% immunity' from

Goofus — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 09:00:09 +0800

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/...d-after-21-days

One dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine gives people about 90% protection from Covid by 21 days, according to an analysis of Israel’s mass vaccination programme.

The data analysis, carried out by researchers from the University of East Anglia with UK government funding, runs counter to an earlier study from Israel which suggested that one dose may not give adequate protection.

Prof Nachman Ash, in charge of the Israeli vaccination effort, said last month that a single dose appeared “less effective than we had thought”, and was also lower than Pfizer had suggested. Pfizer had said efficacy was 52% after a single dose.

But Prof Paul Hunter and Dr Julii Brainard say their reanalysis of the data, which has not been peer-reviewed, shows high protection just before the second dose was given at 21 days. However, they warn that the risk of infection doubled in the first eight days after vaccination – possibly because people became less cautious.

“A recent non peer-reviewed pre-print paper based on Israel’s experience looked at data from 500,000 people who had been given the Pfizer vaccine. It reported that a single dose may not provide adequate protection.

“But we saw a number of flaws in how they looked at the data including the fact that they did not attempt to estimate the effectiveness of the vaccine from day 18 onwards. This would have given a better indication of how effective a single dose of the vaccine could be if the second dose was delayed by up to 12 weeks.”

“Surprisingly, the daily incidence of cases increased strongly after vaccination till about day eight – approximately doubling. We don’t know why there was this initial surge in infection risk but it may be related to people being less cautious about maintaining protective behaviours as soon as they have the injection,” said Hunter.

“We found that the vaccine effectiveness was still pretty much zero until about 14 days after people were vaccinated. But then after day 14 immunity rose gradually day by day to about 90% at day 21 and then didn’t improve any further. All the observed improvement was before any second injection.

“This shows that a single dose of vaccine is highly protective, although it can take up to 21 days to achieve this.”

He believes this should be reassuring for the UK. The researchers do not know how long protection will last after a single shot, he said, but “we are unlikely to see any major decline during the following nine weeks”.

Singapore Found Covid-19 Immune Response

Goofus — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 17:24:18 +0800

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2021/02/03...utbreak-expert/

Studies in Italy and Singapore show immune response in individuals who were infected with Covid-19 even before the December 2019 Wuhan outbreak, while SARS-CoV-2 was found in sewage water in Spain in March 2019

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — The novel coronavirus could have originated outside China, an international zoonotic disease expert said, as immune responses and the virus were discovered in Italy, Singapore and Spain before the Wuhan outbreak.

During the International AIDS Society (IAS) Covid-19 Conference: Prevention, Linfa Wang, director of the Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, said there could be a possibility that SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19, may have originated far away from the initial outbreak site in Wuhan.

Wang shared how there was already evidence of the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans before December 2019, when the world’s first Covid-19 outbreak was reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

In September 2019 in Italy, there were antibodies found in humans against the Covid-19 virus, and in March 2019, when the polymerase chain reaction method was used to test the sewage water in Spain, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was found.

“Here are two papers, one from Singapore. Studied specific T cell response to SARS-Cov-2 and we found that before 2019, we already have people with T cell immunity to the virus,” Wang told the panel.

According to Wang, the ancestral virus of Covid-19 is from bats, which was quickly identified five days after the Wuhan outbreak, but the intermediate host that transmits the virus from animal to human is still unknown.

#as usual, singapore no 1 in everything.

COVID-19 vaccination site shut down

Goofus — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 10:34:07 +0800

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/20...her-at-entrance

Dodger Stadium’s mass COVID-19 vaccination site was shut down Saturday afternoon as about 50 protesters gathered at the entrance, stalling hundreds of motorists who had been waiting in line for hours.

The Los Angeles Fire Department closed the entrance to the stadium — one of the largest vaccination sites in the country — for about an hour starting just before 2 p.m. as a precaution, officials said. Several LAPD officers also responded to the scene; a spokeswoman for the department said no arrests were made.

The demonstrators included members of anti-vaccine and far-right groups. While some carried signs decrying the COVID-19 vaccine and shouting for people not to get the shots, there were no incidents of violence.

“This is a sharing information protest and march against everything COVID, Vaccine, PCR Tests, Lockdowns, Masks, Fauci, Gates, Newsom, China, digital tracking, etc.”

Protesters carried signs that read “Save Your Soul TURN BACK NOW,” “CNN IS LYING TO YOU,” “RECALL GAVIN NEWSOM” and “TAKE OFF YOUR MASK.” Some handed out pamphlets to motorists who had their windows down. Some cars blared their horns as they drove by.

Protesters spoke through bullhorns: “Turn back while you can,” one man said. “You’re a lab rat.”

Facepalm

Malaysia Getting First 144k Pfizer Vaccines in Feb

Goofus — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 11:22:49 +0800

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2021/01/29...es-in-february/

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — The first million doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine will be delivered to Malaysia in batches across six weeks, with an initial shipment of 144,000 shots arriving next month.

A batch of 144,000 Pfizer-BioNTech shots is expected to be delivered to Malaysia each week for five weeks, and 280,000 doses delivered in the sixth week.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the national Covid-19 vaccination programme will also start in February, targeting 150,000 shots administered daily nationwide by the middle of the year.

Khairy added that the government is still negotiating with Johnson & Johnson for its single-dose Covid-19 vaccine, as well as with Moderna. However, the Moderna shot — which has been approved by US, UK, and European regulators — is “quite expensive”.

“If we buy the Moderna one, we’ll be above the budget. But I’m considering it because, I wouldn’t say proven, it’s got regulatory approval in the UK and the US. The issue that we have with Chinese vaccines, we got a good deal, but we’re held up with the regulatory process,” said Khairy.

Malaysia is scheduled to receive three million vaccine doses by quarter one (Pfizer: 1 million, Gamaleya: 1 million, Sinovac: 1 million). Quarter two will see delivery of 21 million doses (Pfizer: 1.7 million, AstraZeneca: 6.4 million, Gamaleya: 5.4 million, Sinovac: 5 million, CanSino: 2.5 million).

The delivery schedule for AstraZeneca’s vaccine procured directly by the Malaysian government, however, will only be known in February or March; delivery is expected to start as early as April.

Quarter three of this year will see delivery of 12.8 million doses (Pfizer: 5.8 million, Sinovac: 6 million, CanSino: 1 million). Malaysia expects to receive 4.3 million doses in quarter four, all from Pfizer.

Hence, Malaysia has confirmed delivery of 41.1 million vaccine doses throughout this year. The government is also trying to finalise the delivery schedule of an additional 12.2 million Pfizer shots, aside from the 12.8 million doses promised to Malaysia this year.

“We’re trying to get everything delivered this year. Only Pfizer, I’ve not finalised the additional order because they’ve not committed to delivering it this year,” Khairy said, adding that the Malaysian government can only purchase a maximum of 25 million doses from Pfizer.

The 41.1 million vaccine doses confirmed for delivery to Malaysia this year excludes the 6.4 million doses purchased from the global COVAX plan, with Khairy saying: “We don’t know the COVAX delivery schedule yet”.

The COVAX Facility announced last January 22 that it anticipated starting delivery of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of February. The EU has threatened to restrict exports of Covid-19 vaccines produced in the bloc, amid reduced supplies from AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech due to production problems, BBC reported. AstraZeneca’s vaccine is mainly produced in the UK; Malaysia will receive supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot from the company’s plant in Belgium.

When asked if it was wise for the Malaysian government to invest in the coronavirus vaccine by Chinese company Sinovac, in light of the vaccine’s 50.4 per cent efficacy shown in a late-stage trial in Brazil, Khairy said Malaysia has received more granular data about the studies. Malaysia’s Institute for Clinical Research (ICR) is currently examining data from the Sinovac trials.

“We’ve not given up on Sinovac, we’re still evaluating,” said Khairy. “I’ve built into the negotiations things like refundable deposits which secure our financial position. So we can go ahead with it. If it doesn’t work out, we can walk away from it. There won’t be a financial implication to the Malaysian government. But it’s important that we secure the supply first.”

The Ministry of Health (MOH) signed Tuesday agreements with Pharmaniaga Life Science Sdn Bhd and Duopharma Sdn Bhd to supply 12 million Sinovac doses and 6.4 million Sputnik V shots by the Gamaleya Institute respectively.

Malaysia secures 18.4 million doses

Goofus — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 05:55:53 +0800

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN29V11H

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia said on Tuesday it had signed deals with two domestic companies to purchase 18.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines produced by Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute and China’s Sinovac.

Malaysian pharmaceutical firm Duopharma will supply the government with 6.4 million doses of Gamaleya’s Sputnik V vaccine in stages from March, the health ministry said in a statement.

Malaysia Pharmaniaga Berhad will supply 12 million doses of Sinovac’s vaccine from April, the ministry said.

Earlier this month, Pharmaniaga said it had agreed to buy 14 million doses from Sinovac, under a deal that would allow it carry out a fill-and-finish process on the vaccine for distribution in Malaysia, before later manufacturing it locally.

A health ministry official said the purchase of 12 million doses was based on the termsheet between the government and Pharmaniaga.

Pharmaniaga did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of the remaining 2 million doses.

#kononnya no middlemen involved.

Early results on Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

Goofus — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 21:44:38 +0800

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-c...s-idUSKBN29U2AZ

(Reuters) - Fewer than 0.01% of people who received Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine have contracted the virus more than a week after receiving the second dose, a leading Israeli healthcare provider said on Monday.

The preliminary results shared by Israeli HMO Maccabi showed that only 20 people out of some 128,600 who received both shots have since been infected with the COVID-19 virus.

"Maccabi reports that out of the 20 people infected, 50% suffer from chronic illnesses. All patients experienced a mild illness with symptoms including headaches, cough, weakness or fatigue. No-one was hospitalized or suffered from a fever above 38.5C. Most patients tested for COVID-19 due to exposure to a verified patient," it said.

Vaccination Drive Curbing Infection & Hospitalizat

Goofus — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 06:32:15 +0800

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/202...hospitalization

Maccabi Health Services studied a sample group of 50,777 people over the age of 60 inoculated in late December and then again in mid-January. Raw data showed that two days after the second shot, the number of new infections and hospitalizations were both down about 60% from their peak, researchers reported.

Trends began to shift around two weeks from the first dose, according to the analysis Maccabi’s KSM Research #and Innovation Center did in collaboration with Israeli computational health researchers KI Institute.

A separate Israeli study of health workers who received two doses of the Pfizer Inc. shot found elevated levels of antibodies in nearly every participant that matched or exceeded clinical results.

Israel has been largely using Pfizer’s vaccine since it began its immunization drive in late December, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offering data on the campaign to expedite and expand shipments. The country has been adhering to Pfizer’s guidance of a second shot about three weeks after the first, reserving second doses.

Manaus, a Brazilian city that

Goofus — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 17:22:00 +0800

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2...idence-suggests

Back in April, COVID-19 hit the city of Manaus, Brazil, extremely hard. In fact, the outbreak there was arguably the worst in the world. One study, published in the journal Science, estimated that so many people were infected that the city could have reached herd immunity — that the outbreak there slowed down because up to 76% of the population had protection against the virus.

Now the city of Manaus is seeing another massive surge in cases. This time around, the outbreak appears even larger than the first one, says Marcus Vinicius Lacerda, an infectious disease doctor at the Fundação de Medicina Tropical Doutor Heitor Vieira Dourado in Manaus. "You have much more people becoming infected and that includes people inside their [newly diagnosed patients'] households," he says.

The surge is so large that hospitals have run out of oxygen, and patients on ventilators, who need extra oxygen to breathe, have literally suffocated in hospital beds. "I'm really afraid. I'm seeing lots of people dying, people that should have had better support in the hospitals," Lacerda says.

In many ways, this resurgence in Manaus doesn't seem to make sense because such a large proportion of the population was infected just last spring. In theory, these earlier patients should now be immune to the coronavirus. So why is the city seeing such a huge surge?

The answer could lie in a newly discovered variant.

Last week, scientists in Brazil detected a new genetic variant of the coronavirus that has been circulating in Manaus since at least December and is likely fueling the second surge. Called P1, the variant has a set of about 20 mutations, including three mutations that are particularly concerning. These mutations could make the virus more infectious

At Sungai Buloh, 2 Doctors Manage 30 Sick Covid

Goofus — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 13:07:10 +0800

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2021/01/20...covid-patients/

Doctors in Sungai Buloh Hospital’s Covid-19 wards have to review patients, clerk new admissions, discharge patients, take blood, do referrals to relevant subspecialties, and attend to emergencies in between, with the help of only two to three nurses.

And with the increasing number of Covid-19 patients, mostly category three to four, their workload has significantly increased. Category three refers to Covid-19 patients with pneumonia who can breathe on their own, while category four refers to Covid-19 patients with pneumonia who need supplemental oxygen. Category four is considered clinically severe disease.

According to JKNS director Dr Sha’ari, in his statement, staff in HSB work in a shift system that helps to reduce their workload.

However, the anonymous HSB staff told CodeBlue that the shift is either from 9am to 9pm (AM shift) or from 9pm to 9am (PM shift). Most HSB health care workers have been working on an endless loop of AM and PM since the beginning of the pandemic last year.

“Take Turns To Sleep, Sleep Is A Luxury Anyway”

The staff said that the initiative of providing a green zone in HSB for health care workers to rest, eat, pray, and shower, as mentioned in the JKNS statement, was true and a good initiative.

However, the staff said that it is difficult to maintain social distance and prevent spread of the coronavirus in these areas among health care workers.

JKNS had also mentioned that oncall doctors are eligible to receive food from the hospital, but unlike the beginning of the Malaysian epidemic, HSB no longer receives food donations from volunteer groups, industries, and agencies. Hence, staff can either buy food from the cafeteria or food outlets in the hospital, or order food through delivery services like GrabFood.

The anonymous staff also added that even though the canteen is open, it is troublesome for health care workers in the ward to find a suitable time to remove their PPE, go to the canteen, and purchase food on time.

Besides that, in order for doctors to get meals from the hospital, they will have to fill up manual forms for each day, which should be done in advance and submitted to the food department along with their rosters to prove that they are really working on that day.

MOH: Home Quarantine Close Contacts,

Goofus — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 14:57:46 +0800

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2021/01/14/moh-ho

If fewer than 50 people are exposed to Covid-19 in a cluster, then 20 test samples are sufficient. If the cohort exceeds 50 people, 30 test samples are enough, or 10% of the cohort, whichever is lower, says MOH.

“Quarantine is to be done for 10 days from the last date of exposure to a positive case with health self-monitoring,”

“If there are symptomatic individuals, such cases are to be isolated and tested for Covid-19. Quarantine on this cohort must be continued for 10 more days from the date the case tested positive for Covid-19. Testing on Day 10 is not required.”

MOH’s new policy on the management of close contacts of positive Covid-19 cases and home quarantine for asymptomatic and mild cases was implemented after the National Security Council’s (NSC) January 4 meeting and MOH’s disaster management executive committee’s January 11 meeting decided to place Category 1 (asymptomatic) and Category 2 Covid-19 cases (mild symptoms) in self-isolation at home, place of residence, or hotel; or a low-risk quarantine and treatment centre (PKRC); or hospital, according to the suitability of the infected person’s place of residence.

The Health DG also said all close contacts who test negative for Covid-19 must be quarantined according to their cohort in their place of residence, such as prison cells, workers’ dormitories or hostels, or a suitable home, based on the risk evaluation of the exposed individual and the premise to be used for self-isolation.

Category 1 and 2 Covid-19 cases (asymptomatic and mild cases) among workers can be isolated in workers’ dormitories, according to the suitability of such premises. If such premises are not suitable, employers are required to prepare a suitable place for self-isolation like a hotel.

Employers are also required to bear the costs of Covid-19 testing for foreign employees ordered by health officials to undergo screening, if these tests are done in a health facility or laboratory run by the government.

The district health office will prepare a list of positive Covid-19 cases once a day, every day, to call people infected with coronavirus to evaluate their health status, the seriousness of their disease, and suitability for self-isolation at home.

State health departments are required to identify a suitable location to set up a Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) to evaluate Covid-19 patients, covering clinical evaluation, support of the patient’s family members, and suitability of the patient’s place of residence for self-isolation.

The Health DG said state health departments can form the CAC at a public health clinic (Klinik Kesihatan), village clinic (Klinik Desa), community clinic, maternal and child health clinic, or a PKRC.

Health officials’ method of evaluation during the 10-day home quarantine of positive Covid-19 cases can be done physically or through virtual consultation by using a form that lists symptoms, such as sore throat or flu; cough; fever; difficulty breathing; loss of smell or taste; diarrhoea; nausea; lethargy; muscle or chest pain; difficulty getting up from bed; among others.

At Serdang Hosp, 2 to 6 gravely ill Covid patients

Goofus — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 11:27:56 +0800

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2021/01/14...covid-hospital/

At Serdang Hospital, two to six gravely ill Covid-19 patients were waiting daily in the isolation room in the emergency department the past one week.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — Severely sick Covid-19 patients are allegedly awaiting days to be transferred from a non-Covid hospital to Sungai Buloh Hospital, risking worse outcomes and even death.

An anonymous source working at a hospital in Selangor told CodeBlue that sick Covid-19 patients are only accepted by Sungai Buloh Hospital, Selangor’s only Covid-19 treatment hospital, if they test positive with the gold standard RT-PCR.

According to the source, Sungai Buloh Hospital used to take in any suspected Covid-19 patients initially, before hospital guidelines were changed to admit any patient who tested positive for coronavirus with the antigen rapid test kit (RTK).

“Now, symptomatic, severely ill, close contacts from known clusters, with obvious chest X-ray changes, and RTK-positive are sometimes being turned away and have to wait for swab PCR positive to be considered for transfer to Hospital Sungai Buloh,” the anonymous source claimed.

The source pointed out that by the time the patient waits for his or her RT-PCR test result, which takes at least 24 hours or more, the patient will then have to wait for several more days due to the lack of intensive care unit (ICU) beds in Sungai Buloh Hospital.

“There is an increasing number of severe Covid-19 cases presenting to government hospitals in Selangor now, at least since the last two to three weeks, and stuck in non-Covid-19 hospitals for days,” the source told CodeBlue.

The public hospital worker added that there are 10 to 12 Covid-19 patients on ventilators in the wards of Serdang Hospital alone, who cannot be transferred to Sungai Buloh Hospital with a full ICU.

According to the person, at Serdang Hospital, two to six severely ill Covid-19 patients were waiting daily in the isolation room in the emergency department the past one week, besides the 10 to 20 coronavirus patients with pneumonia waiting a day in the normal wards to be transferred to Sungai Buloh Hospital. These are in addition to the 10 to 12 Covid-19 patients on ventilator support in the wards of the non-Covid-19 treatment hospital.

The anonymous source said that severely sick Covid-19 patients usually have multiple co-morbidities like diabetes and end-stage renal failure that require specialised care. However, more often than not, these patients are stuck either in the emergency department or an ordinary ward with ventilator support.

“If these patients are not admitted to a Covid hospital or an ICU, they are deprived of proper treatment, monitoring and appropriate care. Then, of course, our death rates will surely increase.”

An analysis found that 69.2 per cent of Malaysia’s total Covid-19 fatalities last year had at least one underlying medical condition. The most common comorbidity seen was hypertension (52 per cent), diabetes mellitus (38 per cent), ischaemic heart disease/ heart disease (16 per cent), chronic kidney disease (14 per cent) and dyslipidemia (12 per cent).

The source also added that things get worse when there is a Covid-19 outbreak in the ICU or a ward, causing the entire ICU to be locked down. This simply means no patients can be admitted until 10 to 14 days of quarantine is completed.

Dr Suresh Kumar, the head of medicine and infectious disease consultant from Sungai Buloh Hospital, yesterday acknowledged a delay in admitting severely sick Covid-19 patients due to a surge of such cases over the past two weeks in that hospital, but denied that Sungai Buloh turned away patients.

Serdang Hospital refused to comment on the issue when CodeBlue contacted the director’s office. A staff from the director’s office stated that the hospital is required to carry out an investigation before coming up with an official statement.

“We have to discuss with the director. All are busy at the moment,” the staff told CodeBlue.

Besides that, CodeBlue contacted the Covid-19 response team in Sungai Buloh Hospital to confirm the claims made by the anonymous source.

When asked if ICU units are full in Sungai Buloh Hospital, Dr Mustapha Kamal from the hospital’s Covid-19 response unit, said: “Full.”

Dr Mustapha, who did not comment on the alleged refusal of sick Covid-19 patients, said Sungai Buloh Hospital admits ill Covid-19 patients based on the hospital’s capacity.

“We try our very best to accept. Sungai Buloh Hospital usually tries to cater Class Three to Five,” Dr Mustapha told CodeBlue. “Usually, we try our best to accept cases from all over Selangor. Especially the very ill ones.”

Covid-19 patients are categorised based on five clinical stages — Stage 1 is asymptomatic, Stage 2 is symptomatic without pneumonia, Stage 3 refers to pneumonia without hypoxia, Stage 4 patients have pneumonia with hypoxia; while Stage 5 patients are critically ill with multi-organ involvement. Hypoxia is a condition when tissues of the body don’t receive sufficient oxygen supply, necessitating supplemental oxygen for the patient.

Dr Mustapha also noted that the Stage Four and Five patients in Sungai Buloh Hospital’s ICU increased by at least 20 to 25 per cent in the past one month.

“This time, [Covid-19] wave is very bad,” Dr Mustapha added.

According to Dr Suresh, the number of Stage Four and Five Covid-19 patients in Sungai Buloh Hospital, who required admission to ICU, increased exponentially from 2.76 per cent on November 2 last year to 15.49 per cent on January 11 this year.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, in a press conference yesterday, said Sungai Buloh Hospital was short of manpower and that 41 coronavirus patients were on ventilator support in non-Covid hospitals. He added Sungai Buloh Hospital’s ICU beds could be increased from 60 to 110 or 120 if the facility obtained more human resources.

He said the Health Ministry was working with private hospitals to take in Covid-19 patients, as well as non-coronavirus cases like cancer or semi-emergency cases.

Sungai Buloh Hospital Delays Admitting Severe

Goofus — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 15:42:52 +0800

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2021/01/13...nts-amid-surge/

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — A Sungai Buloh Hospital physician today acknowledged a delay in the Covid-19 hospital admitting severely sick Covid-19 patients due to a surge of such cases over the past two weeks.

Sungai Buloh Hospital is the only designated Covid-19 treatment hospital in Selangor, the country’s most developed state that has been reporting the highest number of coronavirus cases nationwide for the past few weeks, sometimes exceeding 1,000 infections daily.

“It is the recent weeks, one to two weeks, when the Category Four patients increased, and that’s the space in the main hospital where we need oxygenated beds,” Dr Suresh Kumar, the head of medicine and infectious disease consultant from Sungai Buloh Hospital, said during a webinar by Edunity Foundation and G25 Malaysia earlier today.

“We struggle to move patients, so there has been a delay in taking them over; no patients have been turned down.”

According to Dr Suresh, the number of Covid-19 patients in Sungai Buloh Hospital requiring intensive care unit (ICU) beds — Category Four and Five patients — has been exponentially increasing, from 2.76 per cent of Covid-19 patients in his facility on November 2 last year, to 15.49 per cent on January 11 this year.

“The proportion of patients Category Four and Five requiring oxygen or ventilator has exponentially gone up.

“Every week now, I have to open a new ward, a 28-bedded ward to cater to these oxygenated patients,” he said, referring to Sungai Buloh Hospital.

Category Four and Five are classified as the severe stages of Covid-19 disease. Category Four patients are symptomatic patients with pneumonia requiring supplemental oxygen, while Category Five patients are critically ill.

Dr Suresh also said that there are no bed shortage issues among the Category One and Two Covid-19 patients, but the Health Ministry will be isolating such cases in their own homes. Category One patients do not have any symptoms, while Category Two patients have symptoms but without pneumonia. Category Three patients have pneumonia but can still breathe on their own.

Dr Suresh also explained that before September 2020, the total number of Covid-19 cases was low, hence the proportion of undiagnosed Covid-19 patients was small, mostly asymptomatic while some were mild cases.

However, when the number of new Covid-19 cases started to increase, more than what the public health system can handle, the fraction of undiagnosed Covid-19 cases increased, adding to the number of mild cases going undiagnosed.

This indicates that Malaysia has far more Covid-19 cases, including undetected asymptomatic and mild cases, than official figures that mostly capture people showing symptoms. Malaysia has been reporting nearly 2,000 new Covid-19 cases a day on average in the past week.

Dr Suresh added that the death rate due to Covid-19 is also rising. The death rate during the third wave of the Malaysian epidemic was more than 100 deaths a month, as compared to the first and second wave. As of January 10, there have been 80 deaths already reported due to Covid-19.

Besides that, the infectious disease consultant also said those in the age group of between 71 and 80 had a higher proportion of developing severe Covid-19, followed by those between the age group of 61 to 70 years.

Private Hospitals Taking In Covid-19 Patient

Goofus — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 15:44:23 +0800

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2021/01/12...ublic-patients/

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 — Private hospitals will assist the public health care system to manage non-Covid and some Covid-19 patients based on individual hospital capacity and capability, the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM) said today.

APHM’s remarks came after their meeting with Muhyiddin Yassin, following the prime minister’s announcement that the government may enact emergency ordinances — under Malaysia’s state of emergency until August 1 — to enable the temporary takeover of land, buildings, or property of private hospitals; or to request the use of private hospital resources to treat Covid-19 patients.

Muhyiddin also said this morning that the emergency ordinances — legislation that can be enacted by the Executive without Parliamentary approval — could enable the government to obtain assistance from the private health care sector, including human resources, expertise, facilities, assets, testing laboratories, and utilities.

“Hope the medical insurance companies will assist their clients in getting reimbursement in private hospitals so that they are not burdened,” APHM president Dr Kuljit Singh added in his comments to CodeBlue.

All Covid-19 cases are currently treated in the public health care system. Muhyiddin said yesterday, when announcing a two-week Movement Control Order on six states from January 13 to 26, that the public health care system was at a “breaking point”, with more than 2,000 new Covid-19 cases recorded daily over the past seven days.

Muhyiddin added that the current bed occupancy rate in 15 Covid-19 hospitals is over 70 per cent currently, while intensive care unit (ICU) beds for Covid-19 patients were fully occupied in Kuala Lumpur Hospital and University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC). The ICU bed occupancy rate for Covid-19 patients has reached 83 per cent in Sungai Buloh Hospital.

Besides that, the ICU bed occupancy rate for coronavirus patients in five states — Perak, Selangor, Melaka, Terengganu, and Sarawak — has exceeded 70 per cent.

Bernama quoted Health Minister Dr Adham Baba as saying earlier today that the Ministry of Health (MOH) has decided, since last January 1, to place asymptomatic and mild Covid-19 patients (Stage 1 and 2) in home quarantine with monitoring by health workers.

MOH will determine home quarantine if a person infected with Covid-19 lives in a sufficiently large home with rooms for self-isolation, and if the person’s household understands quarantine and isolation. Tests will be done on the tenth day of home quarantine to check if a person no longer has the coronavirus.